USC has been shaky with large second-half leads

LOS ANGELES – This much seems clear about USC basketball under interim coach Bob Cantu: the Trojans are more comfortable with dogfights than leisurely strolls.

Three times in their last five games, the Trojans have held second-half leads of 14 or 15 points. The results of those three games: a one-point regulation victory, an overtime victory and an eight-point regulation loss.

Momentum-turning scoring runs are certainly common in college basketball, but the Trojans are making a habit of building huge second-half leads, then struggling to hold them. The tendency finally bit USC on Sunday, when Cal rallied from a 14-point deficit in the final 17 minutes and won 76-68.

"It is a game of runs and these teams, home or away, are always going to be able to make a run," Cantu said Tuesday. "I think we get a little comfortable when we're up. We basically need to do a better job of executing, in regards to the score. We need to do a better job of taking care of the basketball."

USC led 47-32 with 16 minutes remaining and led by 10 with six minutes left, but Cal went on a stunning 21-3 run. The loss Cal dropped the Trojans (12-14, 7-6) into a tie for sixth place in the Pac-12 Conference going into Sunday afternoon's game against UCLA at Galen Center.

It wasn't shocking to see Cal rally. Three days earlier at Stanford, the Trojans led by 14 with 16:41 remaining. Stanford promptly went on a 12-2 run, pulled within one in the final minute and had a winning 3-point attempt hit the rim at the buzzer.

Against UCLA on Jan. 30, USC led by 15 with 13:25 remaining. UCLA rallied and tied the game in the final minute but USC won in overtime. Cantu has encouraged USC to play with more aggression on offense, but when the Trojans get a big lead, should they pull back a bit and focus more on defense?

"It's tough, because you want to continue to play with pace, but you want to take good shots," Cantu said. "You don't want to stall either. There's a happy medium somewhere. You've got to play and continue to take good shots, and you've got to defend."

STOP SHABAZZ?

USC beat UCLA, 75-71, at Pauley Pavilion last month. In that game, USC did a good job with its interior defense and often forced UCLA to shoot from the perimeter. The Bruins shot 38.2 percent from the field in that game, including 2 for 19 from 3-point range.

USC will look for a duplicate effort, particularly in its defense of star UCLA freshman Shabazz Muhammad. Muhammad, who is shooting 46.3 percent for the season, was 7 for 18 against USC.

"Since we were able to get them over there, I expect them to come out with a lot of fire right from the beginning," Cantu said. "We've got to do what we did last time, and have a good game plan. We've got to see what we can do to try to limit Shabazz and not let him get going."